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XIII. — Destructive Insects and the Immense Utility of Birds. 
Extracts from <a Pamphlet dedicated to Agricultural Societies 
and Schools. By Frederic de Tschudi, President of the Agri- 
cultural Society of Canton St. Gall, Switzerland. Translated 
from the Second French Edition, by Henry L. B. Ibbetson. 
That we may the better understand the importance of birds to 
mankind, let us examine the lives and habits of these little 
creatures, and the position assigned to them in the marvellous 
economy of Nature. A simple view of their organisation and 
mode of life will at once show us that the orders of birds whose 
daily and principal food is drawn chiefly, if not entirely, from 
the animal world, are those which exist both in the greatest 
numbers and the greatest variety. In Germany and Switzerland 
150 different species are known, some sedentary, others more or 
less nomadic. The most numerous order 6i all is that of the 
Insectivora, which includes the warbler (^Sylvia orphcBO), the 
yellow wren (^Sylvia trochilus), the stone-chat \Saxicola rubicola), 
the lark (^Alauda), the Alpine warbler (^Accentor Aljnnus) , the 
white wagtail (Mofasilla), the fieldlark {Anthus arboreus), the 
great titmouse (Pams major), the spotted flycatcher (^Muscicapia 
grisola), the throstle {^Turdus musicus), the great cinerous shrike 
(^Lanius excubitor), — the order numbering altogether more than 
80 species. Few of these eat vegetable food, by far the larger 
number living exclusively on animals. The next most numerous 
order — that of the Palmipedes — of which there are about 40 
species (some of which are rarely seen in these countries), also 
lives for the most part on animal food. Swans do not disdain it ; 
geese are the only members of the order which steadily refuse it. 
The Grallae, which form a group of about 30 species, are almost 
entirely dependent on animal food. Birds of prey — Rapaces — 
numbering as many species as the preceding order, of course 
feed exclusively on animals ; whilst of the family of the Gal- 
linae, in which there are about 20 known species, the following 
members prefer animal food : — the water rail (^Rallus aqnaticus), 
the common loot (^Fulica atra) ; the partridge (^Perdix), wood- 
grouse (Tet7'uo), bustards (^Otis turda), do so at certain periods. 
The Zygodactyli, consisting of 12 species, are very eager after 
animalculcB ; the European nuthatch (Sitta Europcea), the wry- 
neck (Yunx torcpiilla), and possibly the woodpecker (Picus) 
and cuckoo (CucuHus canorus), being the only ones which in 
autumn eat berries and seeds. The order of Granivora, which 
includes the families of the chaffinch (Frinyil/a),- the house- 
sparrow (Fringilla domestica), the serin-finch (Pringilla serinus), 
the linnet (Fringilla lissota), the bunting (Fmberiza), the haw- 
